Livestock predation and vulnerability to retaliatory killing in the Maasai steppe

Kissui quantified livestock losses to lions, leopards, and spotted hyenas across Maasai households in northern Tanzania and linked those losses to retaliatory killing of carnivores. Using household surveys and verified depredation records, the study showed depredation occurred both at pastures during the day and inside bomas at night, with poorly fortified enclosures driving nighttime losses. Retaliation, often by spearing or poisoning, followed attacks on livestock and was strongest where losses were high. Kissui argued that improving boma construction and husbandry could reduce both depredation and the killings that threaten lion populations, making husbandry a frontline conservation tool.